This tour takes you on a personal and historical journey through South Africa, revealing the many faces of this beautiful and diverse land. Both tour leader Dr Paul Luckin and national guide Frank Mbete lived and worked in South Africa during apartheid; one in medicine and one in education. Their stories and recollections of the era add fascinating depth to the tour, providing rare personal insights into this period of history.
The tour starts with the Afrikaans history of the nation in Pretoria and continues with African and colonial history in Eswatini (formerly known as Swaziland), KwaZulu-Natal, Ladysmith and Cape Town.
Learn about South Africa’s overlapping medical, military and cultural histories as you travel from Johannesburg and Pretoria into Mpumalanga safari country and take game drives in the Kruger National Park. Continue into Eswatini with its rich culture and plethora of bird and animal life before continuing to culturally distinct KwaZulu-Natal. Continue to the historic town of Ladysmith and explore the battlefields of the Anglo-Zulu and Boer Wars. Travel to the cosmopolitan harbour city of Cape Town, from where you will explore the city, Cape and the Stellenbosch wine region.
Your journey is punctuated with regular specialist visits and talks that provide deep insight into South Africa. There is also an optional pre tour extension to beautiful Victoria Falls.
Dr Paul Luckin AM CStJ MB.BCh.(Rand.), D.A.(S.A.), F.F.A.(S.A.), M.MED.ANAESTHESIA (Natal), FANZCA is an anaesthetist in Brisbane. He started training in rescue as an ambulance paramedic in Tasmania before studying medicine in South Africa, where he spent 8 years in a Mountain Rescue Team. Paul served on the Tasmanian Ambulance Service Medical Advisory Council, was Director of the Advanced Airway Management Training Program and was President of Royal Life Saving Society Tasmania Branch.
Paul teaches Search and Rescue at the state and national level and is on the directing staff of the National Police Search and Rescue Managers Course. He provides advice on survivability during Search and Rescue operations to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, and Police Search and Rescue teams across the nation, in PNG and the Solomon Islands.
As a Captain in the Royal Australian Navy, Paul has been a member of the Submarine Escape Rescue Abandonment Service medical team. He has served in Bougainville, East Timor, the Solomon Islands, in the Resuscitation and Retrieval Team for the victims of the Bali bombs, in the first medical team into Banda Aceh following the tsunami, and in Afghanistan. He was Medical Director, Medical Services Branch, St John Ambulance Queensland, and has been invested as a Commander of the Order of St John (CStJ). For his work in SAR, in 2006 Paul received the Australian National Search & Rescue Award, and in 2015 he was made a Member of the Order of Australia, AM, for significant service to the community through emergency medicine, and as an authority on survivability in search and rescue operations.
Pre-Tour Day 1 Jo’burg / Victoria Falls (Fri 13 Jan) Mid-morning flight to Victoria Falls. Arrive Victoria Falls early afternoon.
Pre-Tour Day 2 Victoria Falls (Sat, 14 Jan) Guided tour of Victoria Falls, Afternoon at leisure. Evening cruise on an open sided boat for a Zambezi sunset.
Pre-Tour Day 3 Victoria Falls/ Jo’burg / (Sun, 15 Jan) Fly back to Johannesburg and check into 54 on Bath Hotel.
Main Tour
Ground only cost of the tour is USD $5,597 per person sharing